Nicole Richie 'paused and listened' during pandemic

Nicole Richie has learned to “pause and listen” during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 39-year-old star – who has Harlow Winter Kate, 13, and Sparrow James Midnight, 11, with her husband Joel Madden – felt a desperate need to “connect to the earth” during quarantine.

She said: “I’ve just learned to listen, to really take a pause and listen. I’ve always stressed that going outside and being in nature is important, but it really became a true necessity once everyone was locked into their computers, Zoom work, all of the things. We really had to make an effort to go outside and be in nature and connect to the earth. I think that is something we have to prioritise in our lives.”

And Nicole admits her and the family were “all in shock” when the world shut down amid the health crisis.

Speaking about the first few weeks, she added: “We were all in shock and everyone was trying to figure out how to make it work. Everything was happening at once and I think everyone was just trying to make it work, and then we had the summer to kind of prepare for that new [school] year and the kids, they just did it. They gave it their all. … It just really made me so proud of them.”

Nicole praised her “strong” kids and she admits she will be interested to see how the coronavirus pandemic affects the future creators of the world.

Speaking to People magazine, she shared: “These kids are very strong and it’ll be interesting to see and hear from the future writers and creators of what this experience has been, because they’ve gone through something that I didn’t go through at their age.”